Lovato, Ray

Ray Lovato - Lapidary Artist: Ray Lovato is America’s premier artist creator of hand-ground turquoise beads called heishi. A native Kewa speaker, Ray is from Santo Domingo Pueblo in New Mexico. Descended from a long line of jewelers, he learned the craft from his parents, Ike and Tonita Lovato, beginning his artistic career at age eleven.

Born in 1946, Lovato served three tours in Vietnam, and upon returning to the U.S., he began making beads in the old style, using high-grade natural turquoise. At a time when others were creating their lapidary necklaces with machines, using cheaper stabilized or treated turquoise, Ray Lovato continued to work in the traditional manner, individually handcrafting every bead or disc in his necklaces.

The creation of turquoise beads requires patience and great attention to detail. The tiny beads are drilled and smoothed against a turning stone wheel, which reduces the weight of the expensive turquoise by 60 to 70%. Few artisans still follow the Lovato family’s commitment to traditional ways, a practice Ray learned from his parents and is passing along to his own children and grandchildren.

Jewelry-making is one of mankind’s oldest arts. Since prehistoric times, people have created personal adornment made from bone, stone or metal. Following the Second World War, many Native American craftsmen began stamping hallmark designs on their creations to identify their work. This is simple for those working in silver and other metals, but much more difficult with the stone necklaces called heishi.

Ray’s distinctive signature hallmark is the addition of a single turquoise bead tied into the traditional cotton neck wrap of his necklaces. This bead is Ray’s personal identification and serves as his mark of quality craftsmanship.

Ray is known and respected by quality Native American art galleries. A visit from Ray Lovato is always a treat, because he always brings along loaves of fresh Pueblo bread and a satchel of magnificent turquoise necklaces that could only come from his workbench. Ray has dominated Native American beadmaking for decades and has won scores of top awards from the Santa Fe Indian Market, Gallup Intertribal Ceremonials and Eight Northern Pueblo shows.